Chapter 281
by fanqienovelChapter 281: Death Traps in the Water
“We obey the master’s command!”
“Let the shark-light shatter all in its reach!”
“Roar—!”
The larvae of the Outer Gods from the Void and etheric worms surged toward the fractured Crystal Walls.
Those Crystal Walls never held well against such tiny creatures; they slipped through the cracks.
But a healthy “Bubble World” prevented mass infiltration; even sneaked-in “lesser deities” wouldn’t last long before being expelled by its internal demigods and order gods.
An unhealthy “Bubble World,” however…
That was fair game.
The Bubble World Paradise Project commenced.
A paradise, of course, for the larvae and etheric worms to feast and grow within its rotting corpse!
This group of “lesser deities” differed slightly—they existed as spawn of the Ether Dragon Clodius. That reckless young dragon had claimed this Bubble World’s “skeleton” as its new nest.
The minions fought the vanguard for their master!
They’d crush this dying world’s last resistance while filling their bellies.
Yet they overlooked one truth…
This was no crumbling, dying “Bubble World.”
Or rather, the “Bubble World” itself had perished, but the Giant God planted a “monster” within its corpse long ago—the “Plane Predatory Tree”!
Inside this “Predatory Tree” dwelled the Giant God’s indomitable spawn!
“Swoosh…”
“Hiss…”
Sure enough, as etheric worms and Outer God larvae neared the shattered Crystal Walls, the thunder of engines echoed through the Sea of Ether.
Hundreds of Trilobite battleships and Spiny Shark warships surged forth, bravely facing off against the invaders.
Deities though they were.
“Hmph…”
“These mortals show spine.”
“Daring to resist this lord’s assault!”
“Commendable courage.”
“Yet expect no mercy.”
“Should survivors remain afterward, this lord might permit them to serve.”
“Hahahaha… hahahaha!”
“Trample them! Grind them to dust!”
Eager to nest, the Ether Dragon Clodius watched his spawn battle the Bubble World’s inhabitants.
As a deity who wanted to become a ruler rather than a simple destroyer like chaos, Clodius was eager to accept warriors who submitted to him into his ranks. At the same time, Clodius knew that as a ruler, his followers couldn’t consist only of chaotic larvae from the Outer Gods from the Void and etheric worms. He needed craftsmen! He needed the spawn and subjects of mortals! Clodius longed to "buy a home" and didn’t want to be a bandit.
“Once I have a Nest and so many remarkable spawn, I can truly elevate myself to a settled being!”
“The mother dragons will surely flock to me!”
“Haha!”
…
However, as the battle continued, he quickly became disappointed.
“Oh?”
“I thought they’d be brave, but they ran away as soon as we met…”
“Hey…”
“Since they’ve got no value.”
“Just eat them all!”
—-
“Listen up, everyone! Get your spirits up!”
“Make contact and pull back.”
“Even if you can fight, pretend you can’t!”
“Lure them all into the Crystal Walls!”
“Hey! I’m talking to you! ‘Giant God’s Celestial’!”
“Don’t charge forward like an idiot! Are you out of your mind?!”
In the Soul Network of the Giant God’s spawn, the Ether Queen and Second Living Saint Albert Drake commanded the battleships to bait the enemies.
After several rounds of "technology diffusion," the combat power of the Giant God’s side had changed dramatically.
At least, the earlier battle with the Outer Gods from the Void showed the current “Giant Fleet” could hold its ground against them and etheric worms if pushed.
The main battleships fell into two classes.
One was the “Giant God’s Radiance-class” multi-purpose void battleships, modeled after Sulya’s avatar body. They could fight in seawater and the Sea of Ether, even slowly crawling onto land as mobile fortresses.
Their signature move remained unfolding “wing shells” to soar through sky and void, striking hard at the Outer Gods.
The other class focused on ocean and Sea of Ether combat—the “Ether Queen-class” ether battleships. They slid through the depths like sharks, boasting extreme agility and sharp threat detection.
But under Albert Drake’s command, they avoided all-out battles.
Instead, they withdrew into the fractured Crystal Walls.
“Hahaha!”
“A bunch of cowards!”
“Easily defeated!”
The etheric worms and larvae from the Outer Gods from the Void dashed across the shattered Crystal Walls and surged into the Bubble World of Themis.
“Alright, my little babies, stop hiding!”
An etheric worm swam around, searching for the trembling mortal battleships.
They planned to bring endless terror and equal destruction to punish those worthless, cowardly mortals!
“Haha!”
It spotted a flat battleship hiding near the root systems of the Holy Tree and suddenly pounced!
The etheric worm’s eyes focused only on the target, completely ignoring the surroundings!
Just as it passed by a set of very plain leaf-like things at the water’s bottom…
“Bang—!”
The large, two-lobed, pod-shaped leaves snapped shut fast!
“Snap—!”
They closed like a mouse trap, tightly catching the chasing etheric worm!
“Ah…”
“What… was happening!?”
“It was a trap!”
“Cunning mortals!”
“Did they think such tricks could handle me!?”
The etheric worm roared in anger and fought hard to get free from the leaf trap!
But soon, it felt something was wrong…
“What was going on!?”
“This ‘strange World Tree’ had a problem!”
“There seemed to be… a very clear and huge will inside it!”
“I… I couldn’t break free!?”
“Ah—!”
“Help me…”
“I didn’t want to die…”
Its struggles faded, and it went quiet.
“Zzz… zzz…”
Thick liquid oozed out, covering the etheric worm; its Divine Body slowly dissolved and rotted away…
This was happening in other places too!
“Ah—!”
“Help me!”
“Great Lord! Save me, Mr. Clodius!”
Of course, no rescue came yet, but something else arrived.
A Giant God’s Radiance-class multipurpose void battleship glided calmly toward a pinned larvae from the Outer Gods from the Void.
“Die! Trash God!”
“Whoosh—!”
The Smashing Claw shot out abruptly, crashing into the void larvae with a thunderous bang.
“Ah—!”
“Pshhh—!”
After the terrified shriek, the skull of the Outer God larvae burst apart, its body slowly going limp.
The battle tipped completely one-sided just like that.
—-
“Hmph!”
“Hey!”
“Nowhere to run!”
“Hahaha…”
Bright laughter and cheers echoed through the System as Trilobite crawled toward the shore, admiring scenery like animated CG!
Barefoot on pale little feet, Miss Themis danced joyfully in the small lake ringed by “woods.”
She watched “tiny fish,” “small shrimp,” and assorted “little bugs” swarm into the tree domain, only to be caught by submerged “predatory leaves”—tapping the water’s surface gleefully with her toes.
“Hmm…”
Trilobite nodded, satisfied with his gift for Miss Themis.
“Seems she likes it.”
“Though a girl liking Venus flytraps and raccoon algae is pretty unusual.”
Raccoon algae could be called kin to the Venus flytrap.
But while flytraps snared flying insects, raccoon algae lurked underwater; their twin-lobed pod leaves formed deadly traps lying in wait for insect larvae, tadpoles, even little fish!
“Miss Themis isn’t just tsundere—she’s got a wild streak too, giving me this vibe…”
“Hmm… like a sweet countryside childhood friend?”
Trilobite pictured a youthful girl in a white dress—net in hand, catching frogs, groping for loaches, scooping crawfish in paddies…
“Energetic, lively, radiating positivity!”
“Perfect…”
“Huh!?”
Just then, an aura began creeping along the shoreline…
“Sniff… sniff…”
“Smells… like blood near the sea!?”